There are literally thousands of miles of underground gas pipelines that transport fuel from sources into refineries and then out to businesses and homes. Such gas pipelines require access for servicing and maintenance. In addition, gas pipelines also require physical protection against damage. This is especially true where they pass underneath roads and highways since the weight of heavy trucks can damage them.
Gas pipeline construction is therefore intimately involved in both providing access to and protection of gas pipelines. To that end gas pipeline construction makes use of various formworks and concrete structures. In practice those structures are difficult to handle, time consuming to install, and costly to implement. Additionally, their concrete must be dealt with should the gas pipeline need to be removed or replaced.
In view of the costs, time and difficult of implementing both access into and protection of underground gas pipelines there exists a need for new protection devices that can provide both needed access into and protection of underground gas pipelines. Preferably such new protections devices would reduce or eliminate some of the disadvantages described above. Beneficially, such protection devices could also be used with other types of pipelines such as oil pipelines and with other services such as water, sewer, and electrical.